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Subscribe to RSS“President Obama will use his first Oval Office speech Tuesday night to outline a plan to legally compel BP to create an escrow account to compensate businesses and individuals for their losses from the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, administration officials said on Sunday,” the New York Times front-pages. “Mr. Obama will press for the escrow account if BP does not establish one voluntarily. The board of the London-based company will discuss the idea and other spill-related issues -- including a brewing controversy over a big dividend for shareholders coming due this summer -- at an emergency session on Monday, company officials said.”
“President Obama will give BP an ultimatum this week: show me the money, or else,” the New York Daily News’ DeFrank writes. “Obama will deliver a prime-time speech on Tuesday and face down BP executives on Wednesday to show them, and his legion of critics, that me means business.”
The New York Post puts on its cover: “Prez’s Pain: Says impact of gulf devastation on national psyche ‘echoes 9/11.’”
The AP: “The White House backs Israel's inquiry into its deadly raid last month on a flotilla trying to break a blockade against Gaza, saying the independent public commission is ‘an important step forward.’”
What’s with Obama and beer? The president bet the UK’s David Cameron a beer that the U.S. soccer team would beat England on Saturday. (Since there was a tie, do they cheer together? Drink half a beer?)
“President Barack Obama spent four hours on the golf course Sunday in temperatures that peaked in the low 90s,” The Hill notes, adding, “Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood was among the group golfing with Obama. Also reportedly in the golfing group were White House Trip Director Marvin Nicholson and photographer David Katz.”
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Good morning everyone. Hope everyone had a good weekend. I see our President is still in the middle of this gulf oil catastrophe while clueless Palin spends the weekend talking about and answering questions about her boobs (did she have implants?). While one is using his brain and pulling out all stops to force BP to establsh an escrow fund for the victims of the oil spill the other continues to prove she has no brain answering questions about her boobs.
Also see where the World Cup organizers are thinking of banning those annoying horns that fans use throughout each game. Can't watch the games on television without that annoying sound being played throughout. Sounds like a stadium full of bees to me. But it is annoying. Glad to see they are about to be banned.
I don't understand the reference to Sarah Palin in your post, other than it tries to tie in an unrelated topic.
I'd caution everyone about the escrow account. It makes for a nice sound bite, and it makes for good public relations (at least in the U.S.) but what law allows the U.S. government to basically force BP to make funds available for U.S. claims, that are as of yet, undefined? I'm not defending BP, but how would we react if the same type of issue (think Bhopal, India and Union Carbide) were to occur elsewhere, and the government of a sovreign nation assessed a penalty against a U.S. registered firm, without due process. I think BP would garner some sympathy in the U.S. if they voluntarily made funds available in escrow, but I'd like to know if legally, we can do so, or if something like this has to go thru the World Court.
Good for President Obama, the gulf coast and our nation. it is time we demanded those who tear stuff up be the ones to make and pay for the repair. BP should not be allowed to make one dime's profit until after all of this mess is cleaned up, the local businesses are reimbursed, and the wildlife is once again thriving.
And let's not allow halliburton to go unscathed - make them pay up as well.
Let's come together as nation and strive for a new energy bill that eleminates oil completely from our children's future.
I'm glad that President Obama is getting tough with BP Oil to make sure they cough up some dough for an escrow account. Good to see that BP Oil is going to have to upset it's investors by diverting dividends to setting up an escrow account to pay off all those injured by their massive oil spill. I wonder why Obama doesn't wait until after he meets with BP Oil executives to give his speech Wednesday night instead of giving it the night before he meets with these oil criminals and liars. Besides most people will be watching the Lakers even the NBA Finals series on Tuesday night.
Everyone knows that Isreal's investigation into it's own high seas piracy attack will be nothing but a whitewash exonerating Isreal of any wrongdoing. Only an impartial international investigation can be believed to find the truth that Isreal wants to hide.
The BP Gulf disaster has come at a time when the American psyche is already wounded by the economic collapse, our psyche is fragile; however, comparing it to 9/11 seems over the top. This is a completely different kind of hurt. It's another economic blow unrelated to foreign enemies. This tears us apart by pitting the oil-guzzling needs of our country against the true cost of our dependence on oil. We see that twisted thinking in the words of Jindal, Barbour, and others demanding the Government do something, move faster, stop the leak, clean it up; talking about the impact of this oil spill on the coastal regions, the harm to fishermen and the local businesses but at the same time, demanding the President lift the temporary moratorium on off-shore drilling. Catch 22.
Just when you thought that things could not get any worse... we have Arizona upping the ante. This weekend, I read a TIME magazine article stating that the same architects of SB 1070 are going one step further by drafting legislation to BAN 'Anchor Babies' (babies of immigrants born on American Soil, which makes them American Citizens)). While on its face this legislation may SEEM like it's a good idea, I submit that it is not. This legislation would DENY the right of children born to immigrants in the United States of being American Citizens, in direct violation of the 14th Amendment which is VERY CLEAR in its language considering citizenship.
With this legislation, we would be breaking up families. WHO will take care of these children - who ARE American Citizens - when their parents are being deported? What will happen to MILLIONS of children who may NOT have a family 'social net' to fall back upon? From what I have been able to glean from my own research, this legislation would be struck down by the Supreme Court as a violation of the 14th Amendment prima facie. It is with MUCH curiousity as to WHY this legislation is going forward in the first place.
I submit to all that are reading this post that this is a test to see if they - the powers that be - can start stripping away the rights of American citizens. I have written extensively about how I felt that SB 1070 is a violation of our 4th Amendment rights (as well as the 8th), but the law as written is nuanced in that case. In this case, the 14th Amendment is being outright challenged. Will the AZ legislature be successful? Probably not, but the mere fact that someone is actually writing legislation to challenge the 14th Amendment should make everyone pause.
So, let's just say that the Supreme Court agrees with the AZ legislature on this issue. That would mean that American Citizens would have their citizenship stripped based on the fact of who their parents are. This would open the door to other challenges to our Bill of Rights and, I believe, America will cease to survive. Although I do NOT think that this legislation will survive, the caveat is that there are people out there who are trying to strip you of your rights as American Citizens. You need to be a lot more vigilant about PROTECTING your rights as American Citizens. If the AZ legislature is successful in stripping these 'Anchor Babies' of their citizenship, then YOUR citizenship and rights will be targeted next. Think I am wrong? I made reference to this VERY ISSUE in a lot of my posts about SB 1070. This open the door for other legislation that SPECIFICALLY designed to strip you of your rights.
Well, that door is NOW opened.
Let's see how spoiled and petulant Americans really are. Will they do anything to PROTECT the rights that have been afforded them by the Founding Fathers and affirmed by our Armed Forces throughtheir blood and sacrifice? Will Americans 'throw away' their rights for political expediency or a partisan advantage?
I hope it doesn't come to that, but Americans today are the most ill-informed and fickle people in ANY country. Let's hope that Americans will THINK - for once - and realise what is going on. Too many are ENJOYING this 'us v. them' mentality.
A divided house does not stand, so let's get our house in order.
Before it is too late.
Oh come on Pietro. It's good that you are stating that this is your opinion because taking away the ability of illegal aliens to come into the country and have a baby that is magically a US cit. is just fine with a majority of US voters. And, your opinion that this is going to be turned into some kind of ethnic cleansing is absolutely without merit and borders on fear mongering. I say "borders on" because, in my opinion, fear mongerers know what they are talking about is un-true. Though our opinions differ on this subject I don't think you would do that.
Fascinating...The Party that was against slavery and for civil rights has completely turned its back on those ideals.
15 days, Arizona. You got 15 days to RE-PEAL this law.
M. Fisher, illegal aliens in this country have been INVITED here by other AMERICANS. Illegal aliens have no power, no say in how we do things here in the US. However, they do have children - lots of them. They aspire for their children to have a better life than they do, and for them to have children on American soil is one way for THEIR children to have that better life.
There are arguments for or against this practice, and I for one can see both arguments. I may not agree with the arguments, but I can understand WHY the 'illegal' alien does what he/she does.
The fact of the matter is that this is a RIGHTS issue, not an immigration issue. The authors of this bill would rather have you and I argue about ILLEGAL immigration while they are taking away our RIGHTS as Americans CITIZENS right from under our noses. We'll let them do it too - because the argument has been framed as an immigration issue.
I am posting this not to 'fear monger', as you call it, but as an American that sees someone assaulting our RIGHTS AS Americans. Start 'taking away' someone's rights now, then someone one else will take away YOUR rights later.
It's your choice.
If you are trying to make a case out of a small minority of people "inviting" the illegal aliens to come and work for them then that is a very weak argument. Drug dealers are invited to deliver crack and crystal meth and any other illegal, deadly substance to a minority of junkies. Should we legalize crack and crystal meth?
All of those poor dealers who are getting put in jail for fulfilling a simple service? Perhaps they should gather in city centers around the country and protest that they are being treated badly and demand that their industry be exempt from the law.
Show me in the Constitution where it says illegal aliens in the US have a right to give birth to legal aliens? This has nothing to do with my rights as a citizen or any other citizen for that matter. The fact that you are framing it that way is a matter of opinion on your part.
I certainly can "understand" why illegal aliens come here to have children. Just as I can understand why someone would want a TV and so they steal it. They don't have somehting they want and so they take it. On the surface it appears noble but it's really a crime. What would be truly noble is if the alien used the system to become a legal citizen so that their children could be raised in a better country. What would be more noble still is if they changed their government. The settlers here did it and they were up against huge odds and almost failed at it.
Understanding why a criminal commits a crime is great but a crime is a crime. I'm not going to let someone come into my home and take my belongings because they have their reasons no matter how legit the criminal or even my neighbor thinks those reasons may be.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fourteenth_Amendment_to_the_United_States_Constitution
Try this link, section 1 is the reference data.
Or else what...? BP along with the rest of big oil owns the US and Europe. So, "or else" must mean a public smack on the wrist?
Umm...Gee...He likes beer... Is this news?? He bet a beer on a game... Wow. I bet that never happened a bazillion times since beer was discovered at the bottom of the hops bin probably by dinosaurs.... Slow day at the office FR???
Given the fact that this spill has VIOLATED the Clean Water Act, not to mention the other Enviromental Law that were broken, the Justice Department AND the EPA have launched a criminal probe into this matter. This is more than just you typical sabre rattling; The Obama Administration is backing its bluster with steel. I've said this before in FR on 6/8/2010 Buzz Blog:"Ass-tounded":
"Each and every time BP tries to do something about this spill has been met with abject failure; every gripe and complaint the the CEO of BP gave earned the ire and disdain of EVERY American, and each Republican that talks about wanting the President to do more but complain about the Government taking over everything OR show their disgust about what has transpired over the last 1 1/2 months ONLY to say they need more off sure drilling OR wants to drill in the ANWR or some other place on land shows their hypocrisy, and the level of corruption between MMS and Big Oil shows a complete and total failure of the system".
Now, M.Fisher, as to you comment about the Arizona Anti-Immigration Law, me and Pietro are on the same accord on this on, so as my conscilatory prize to you, I'm gonna spell it out in such a way that EVEN you will get it. This one I blogged on FR's Midterm: Sex scandals and Nazis, and I'm gonna finish off with AZ Gov Meets Obama.
"Let me see if I can list how many Amendments the Anti-Immigration Law that Arizona passed has violated:
4th Amendment: Search and Seizure.
5th Amendment: Due Process.
6th Amendment: Right to a fair trial.
8th Amendment: Cruel and Unusual Punishment.
14th Amendment: Citizenship.
15th Amendment: Suffrage.
That was my first salvo. Here comes my second.
Let's say, for the moment, that this law is passed. A Puerto Rican Family is diving to Disney Land and has to traverse through AZ, pulls over at a Flying J Truck stop for food and fuel, when he is accosted by the AZ HWY Patrol for no apparent reason. Do you mean to tell me that you are going to jail and deport, a person, by virtue of his birth in a US Territory, SOLELY on the grounds that he is of Hispanic Heritage, and or he REFUSES to show you his documents? Let me go one further: Let say a Russian immigrant, not just 24 hours ago, just signed the papers making him an American Citizen; goes out to a 7-11 to et some milk and cookies, when he is stopped one block away from home and the store. A cop pulls him over for a busted tail light, and when asked to see his driver's license, the officer notices his heavy accent, and to make matters worse, the driver for got his license. you meant to tell me that just because of those two blips, you're going to haul him away, deport him, or worse label him as a terrorist or a spy? How about a Haitian American Soldier who came back from Iraq? Would you treat him the same?
Here come Salvo 3.
I'm just going to come on out and say it, and I'm going to direct it at Governor Brewer:
Governor:
Did it ever occur to you that maybe, just maybe, that of the counties that border Mexico with your state; did it ever dawn on you that the Drug Cartels and Coyotes are getting help from an inside source? That's right, Governor. Some of your deputies and local cops are probably on the take, and giving the current situation, it wouldn't surprise me if they have a secondary bank account. Did it ever dawn on you that if you bust some of these employers that hire illegal immigrants, you could could send a clear message to them?"
"I'm not against going after illegal immigrants; in fact, they should be deported because they drain the community and social resources that Americans, BOTH NATURALLY BORN AND THOSE THAT CAME HERE LEGALLY, need during these turbulent times. I know the people who blog here understand that point, but this law that is about to take effect on 29 June 2010 IS NOT THE WAY TO GO ABOUT IT; in fact, it is going to do MORE HARM than good".
Get the Point? Good. Don't make "Cut" and "Paste" again.
If Obama keeps it up Bp is just going to say screw you prez and I we will see you in court LOL 5 or 10 years from now when you are long gone....They look at this clown as a big joke like most of the other countries in the world minus a few MUSLIM countries.. When you send a black man and a woman as your leader to these other countries they laugh at us and keep on doing the kinds of things they were doing when Obama was suckling teet and Hillary was a wife of a prez. I mean we are a joke in Isreal, Britian,Europe,Asia Koreas Australia you name it noone takes the screwball Looney Left Liberals Losers seriious and all they here is Blah Blah Blah Yeah Yeah whatever come back when you grow a set LOL...How can you politically demonize Bussinesses and other countries and expect them to make you look good.Its just the opposite they are slowly choking him out and unfortunately we all are SUFFERING>>>>> We will be back up again but not till we get his Sorry Ass out of there so come on Nov. and 2012!
So, I take it from your comment, that we should allow BP to screw us, the banks to screw us, and any big business to screw us. By the way, your racism flag is flying high.
Idiotic comments do not advance public discourse. If, as you suggest, people are laughing at this President, they must have been howling at the previous president. It's folks like you that make others laugh. And why was it necessary to mention the President's race? Something you do not like about it? I'm sure there is.
Your solution would be???? Would you let BP off the hook? Would you encourage more of the same? Would you want the government to pick up the tab for the clean-up and job losses? Would you want an every man for himself kind of thing where you say "If you don't like the oil on the beach or on the animals, clean it up yourself"? Just what would YOU do.
Dumb comment, skoal bandit. I mean really not a thinking comment.
Odds are, BP will pull an Exxon and say screw you anyway. They will certainly try. President Obama doing his best to make BP pay is not the problem.
It would appear that you believe that a white man as president would have more political clout? Over looking the fact that your comment is pretty racist I still don't think the fact that president Obama is a black man is an issue to the rest of the world.
Go Mr. President!
I believe you were one of those who believed, or said you believed in death panels, in taking your country back from the evil people now running it, so who exactly is a fear mongerer? Don't point fingers.
Um...If you are indeed talking about me then you are remembering something from some parallel universe. I've never believed in death panels from the HC bill or that "evil people" are running the country.
I have even recently referred to the Bush admin as the reign of evil men and that the only death panel I know of is the current HC system...So, if you were responding to my piece above with the "fear monger" bit then you need to stop pointing fingers...But don't put them back in your ears...
FYI, I'm an independent. I think for myself. I may not always agree with you. It's okay though. As a matter of fact, it's a good thing. I used to go by "BamaBoy" on this blog.
First Read,
Honestly, what is with the beer and the golfing comments. Petty, petty, petty. That stuff is not even newsworthy and yet for some reason people listen to the media. Sometimes you folks cause more problems with your pontificating instead of REPORTING the news.